Virginia Edges Drexel, 11-10, on Late Cockerton Goal

There was a thick crimson line of frozen blood that raced down Matt Barrett’s left leg, sharp cuts on his left and right shins that look like someone took a knife to them. It couldn’t detract from the glowing smile he wore.

Virginia’s freshman goalie did former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling one better with two bloody socks after steering away a career-best 16 shots in saving the Cavaliers from feisty Drexel, 11-10, on Mark Cockerton’s game-winning goal with :15 left on Saturday at Drexel’s Vidas Athletic Complex.

It marked the third-straight, one-goal victory for No. 7-ranked (USILA) Virginia, while Drexel was opening its season.

For Barrett, who played in high school for nearby Malvern Prep, it was an emotionally charged homecoming. Barrett had gone to the last Virginia-Drexel. But he watched that from the stands.

He’s gone from the dancing bear at Malvern Prep to the dancing “teddy bear,” as Virginia coach Dom Starsia likes to call him. He’s also gone from a true freshman placed in a serious role early to becoming a proven commodity in this young season for Virginia.

At times against Drexel, Barrett single-handedly kept the Cavaliers in the game, while Virginia went into offensive lulls, like going 18:14 without a goal from the middle of the third quarter until late in the fourth.

“When I was getting recruited by coach Starsia, he told me I had a decent shot at the starting job,” said Barrett, who beat out sophomore Dan Marino, junior Rhody Heller and senior Matt Robertson as the starter. “I just tried to improve every day in the fall and before the Loyola game, they told me I was going to start. I’ve taken it from there and worked on improving. I think this was our best game yet, overall. I thought I played pretty well and focused on staying settled in the beginning of the game.

“My family and friends were in the stands and I couldn’t let emotions get the best of me. I’ve been to two of the last Drexel-Virginia games and they’re always hard fought. There is a lot of passion and emotion in this game. I got cut up pretty good with all of the blood on my legs, but I’m too cold to feel anything right now.”

Afterward, Starsia wasn’t too pleased. He saw some great flow from his team, which ran off six unanswered goals to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 9-5 lead and seemingly strong command of the game. Then they reverted to a team suddenly indecisive and hesitant.

Starsia witnessed the Cavs give up nine-straight goals to Loyola in their season opener. Against Drexel, he saw them give up four-straight during a critical time.

“We don’t want to play every game like this, we had opportunities to put this game under control and we didn’t do it, that’s a greater concern to me than anything else,” Starsia said. “Matt is a big easy going kid and there was some concern after the first two games with the statistical piece of it. There was hardly a goal in the first two games I would have held him responsible for. What he didn’t do in the first two games was steal a couple of goals, like he had been throughout the preseason and today.

“Matt coming home was something we were really giving a close eye to, but he got off to a really, really good start. Frankly, he was probably the single guy I would pick out as being the most instrumental in us winning today. Matt gives us the best chance to win. You worry about a freshman’s confidence. There’s no question Matt’s a tough kid, and a lot of things roll right off his back. You like to see that in a goalie, especially a young one. We’ve won with young goalies before.”

Starsia likes the poise his team has exhibited. But there’s been something missing here and there. Virginia hasn’t played a complete game—and certainly not to Starsia’s standards yet.

“We have made too mistakes and given other teams a chance to get back into these games,” Starsia said. “We have not played well a complete game for 60 minutes. We have to clean some of that up. We came on the road like this and this was a battle. In the huddle after the game was over, I called out a lot of my veterans because defensively early in the game we gave the ball away too many times. Offensively, we turned the ball over. We had a chance to bury that game earlier. So my big boys have got to start to play better—period. That was the message. Everybody can see that. I’m shallow enough to know a win is better than a loss.”

Pannell making waves

Through just three games, James Pannell has already scored more goals (10) and equaled his point tally for all of last year (12, 7g, 5a), after drooping two goals against Drexel in Virginia’s 11-10 win.

“I wasn’t 100-percent last year with an ankle injury and I tried to come back a little too early on it and that hurt me,” said Pannell, the younger of Cornell great Rob Pannell. “This season, I feel really good and I’m trying to be consistent. I’m far more confident and comfortable than I’ve ever been and I think that shows. After the first two wins and scoring a couple of goals, it helps build that confidence. This game was a big win. Drexel always gives us a good game. They came back and scared us a little bit there.”

Drexel’s platoon goalie system shines in season opener

Drexel coach Brian Voelker saw some things he liked, and feels there are some correctable mistakes that will need to get addressed before the Dragons take the field against next week at Albany.

But Voelker had to be pleased with the two-goalie system he used, getting great production from sophomores Will Gabrielsen, who had five saves in the first half, and sophomore Cal Winkelman, who had eight saves, making one literally on his back.

“I like the way our guys battled back,” said a very hoarse Voelker. “We had some opportunities and we didn’t. Will and Cal had good years last year and it’s why we split them. They both work really hard and I felt they both deserved an opportunity and they both did a really good job. Their goalie, Barrett, had a really good game, too. He probably had more saves than he did the previous two combined.”

Voelker wants to see more improvement, however, on the defensive end, especially after Drexel’s Nick Saputo won 19 of 25 faceoffs. Nick Trizano scored a game-high four goals for the Dragons.

“It concerns you when you win that many faceoffs and you don’t win the game,” Voelker said. “We had opportunities and silly turnovers. Hopefully, we can learn from those mistakes. We feel good about our personnel. I thought our midfielders did a good job, we played a lot of offensive middies today. I don’t know if we’re going to continue playing that many or cut it down a little. We’re still trying to figure a few things and we’re probably still going to go with this goalie rotation.”